I was attacked by a seagull once, just like all those people in Cornwall.

I had parked outside City Hall in Cardiff while I wandered off to the shops.

As I came back I spotted a big fluffy brown bird sat in the flower bed. I was only a yard away and it seemed unconcerned.

I spoke to it. ”Hello, what are you.”

I got a sort of reply - I was dive-bombed by a vicious seagull.

I have worked out since that this was fat bird’s mother, and that it could not yet fly, and was probably so young it was fearless.

The seagull chased me into City Hall, and despite my spending 10 minutes or so looking at their paintings it was still waiting up above when I looked out.

In the end I ran to the car, keys at the ready, and was safely inside before the dive-bomber arrived.

So these stories of gulls nicking chips and even killing dogs come as no surprise to me.

They come off the Loughor Estuary and wheel over my garden. Their screeches make me nervous and go indoors and send all other birds scurrying for cover.

So it is surprising to find they are a protected species .Probably they are the only such which. if you kill them, you can claim self defence.

They love pedestrianisation, and flocks of gulls fly around Llanelli at head height.

The conservationists want us to feel sorry for them? Not me.